When The Universe Unites
by Dont-Eat-My-Pie
Summary: When Hawkeye is kidnapped by an unknown threat, the avengers are called together to rescue him. Matters become more urgent when the threat is revealed to be a race of creatures hell bend on consuming as many planets as possible. Nick Fury soon realizes he must call upon the the last 4 of the avengers for the first time from all parts of the universe. Clint Whump Please Review
1. Turn of Events

Clint felt his eyes roll into the back of his head. The pain of each blow left shocks of agony running through his body long after contact had been made. He wasn't sure how long he had been here, or even why he was here, but it didn't matter at this point. His captors had made no demands and seemingly didn't want a thing from him except to inflict maximum pain upon him. It was working.

Another harsh blow collided with his jaw, forcing his head to fall to the side. He could taste his own blood oozing from cuts inside his mouth. He'd bitten his tongue a few times by accident while he was being beaten. He coughed hard, letting the blood trickle out of his mouth and onto his lap in front of him. Better then choking on it he thought.

He tugged at the metal clamps that held his wrists to each side of the chair he sat on. They didn't budge and neither did the similar clamps on his ankles. He took a deep breath, trying to open his eyes but the pain in his jaw made it difficult to keep them from closing again. It didn't matter anyway, a tight blindfold keep the room dark, not even letting in a glimmer of light.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting here, enduring this suffering but it had to be long enough that Fury had noticed he was not around. Someone had to be looking for him by now… He hoped. Every second of this torment was a second too long and he wasn't the type to beg. Especially to low life scum like his captors. He kept his mouth shut and prayed that soon the pain would end and he could finally rest.

Clint moved his face away when he felt the hot breath of his torturer against his neck. It smelt like something had crawled in their mouth and died a long time ago and it took a lot of will power not to gag.

'You will tell us what you know.' The voice sounded human and male, but if experience told him anything, it was that nothing was certain. Clint took a deep breath in, keeping his breathing steady. 'You can go to hell.' He wasn't actually sure what his captor wanted to know, but chances were he wasn't prepared to tell him.

A heavy blow struck him once more, this time to the other side of his face. The force of the gave him a head-spin. He couldn't even remember how he had gotten himself into this situation. Last thing he could remember was sitting in his apartment with a cold beer watching the television when something warm covered his face from behind.

'Tell us what you know.' The deep voice spoke again, there was more rage this time, but that didn't frighten him. He had been through worse than this. Gritting his teeth, Clint answered.

'You haven't even told me what you want to know you jackass.' He knew his harsh words might get him into more trouble, but seemed to make him feel a bit better.

The man grabbed a handful of Clint's hair and pulling it back, so his face was opposite the ceiling. He groaned in pain, trying not to show any weakness. 'Tell us about the avengers.'

Clint's heart sank. Shit. He knew he couldn't tell him anything, he wouldn't tell him a damn thing about his friends. Deep down he did hope that it would be more simple than this, but hey, you can't always get what you want.

'What's the avengers?' He played dumb, knowing that they could see right through him.

'You _will_ tell us everything…'

'Or what?'

The man chuckled. Clint's heart pounded at the sounds he heard in the distance. It sounded like someone was rummaging through a toolbox or something. He couldn't be positive, but he didn't really want to be.

'We have ways of getting the information we want…' The voice whispered in his ear this time. Hot breath pressed against his ear while footsteps clopped towards him… Someone else was definitely in the room.

Someone grabbed at his hand, stretching out his index finger so that it was pointing forward and despite his struggles, there was no way of escaping the grasp.

'This is about to get really interesting…' The familiar male voice spoke once more. Clint couldn't he certain but he could swear that prick was smiling, enjoying his suffering.

Something latched onto the tip of his nail. A lump formed in the back of his throat as he braced himself for the pain he was about to feel. In one quick movement, his nail was ripped from his hand, causing Clint to bellow in pain. His body spasmed in his chair but the restraints gave him little room to move. His finger continued to throb, leaving Clint in a state of pure agony.

'You ready to tell us about the avengers?'

'Fuck you!' Clint hissed back at him. He squeezed his eyes shut as tight as he could when he felt it middle finger being pulled out of the tight fist he had made. It was pulled straight and the clamp was reattached to the end I the nail. Clint braced himself for more pain moments before the next nail was lifted from his hand. Another cry of agony escaped his throat. The pain was excruciating. His body contorted in the chair beneath him. He wasn't sure if he could take another nail. He moaned, letting his hands relax. He hoped it would help ease the pain but had no such luck. The only thought that comforted him was the hope that his team would come to his rescue soon.

TA

TA

Tony Stark woke to the sound of Peppers voice in his ear. 'Wake up.' She urged. 'It's Nick Fury.' She added.

'Tell him to all back.' Tony kept his eyes closed firmly.

'No, talk to him, it sounds serious.'

Tony sighed, taking the phone from her hands and putting it to his ear. 'This better be a life or death situation.'

'It very well might be.' Fury answered.

'What's the problem?'

'Hawkeye's missing.'

'How missing?'

'This apartment's been ransacked and he's nowhere to be seen.'

'You sure he's not just messy? I know a few people like that.'

'I know a searched house when I see one.'

'So? How longs it been?'

'Not sure, last time I saw him was last night, he didn't show up to meet me and I got worried.'

'You talked to anyone else.'

'Natasha's here, so is Brue, Steve and Thor is on his way.'

'It's that serious?'

'I wouldn't have assembled everyone if it wasn't.'

'Who d you think has him?'

'I'm not 100 perfect but I do have an idea…' He paused.

'Fury?'

'If I'm right, we have a problem.'

'Fine, I'm coming.'

'Hurry up.'

'Yeah, yeah.'

TA

TA

When Tony arrived at the base, Thor had already arrived. He paced the area back and forth.

'Can we finally know what's happening now?' Thor boomed at Fury. Everyone could tell he was becoming impatient.

Tony sat down next to Natasha while Bruce and Steve leaned against the fall.

'I've called you all here because one of our own has been taken.'

'Hawkeye…' Steve answered as more of a statement rather than a question.

'Yes. And if who I think has him, does in fact have him, we have big problems ahead of us.'

'Who do you think has him?' Natasha answered. Her voice was clearly worried. Hawkeye had been a close friend of hers for a long time and she owed it to him to find him and bring him back safe.

'Their called The Strikers. They're a race of beings from a planet, galaxies away. They can take many forms and feed off the life forces of other life in the universe.'

'What would they want with Hawkeye?' Bruce asked.

'I'm not sure, maybe to gather intelligence? They might think he would be easy to crack and get information out of..'

'And would he?' Tony asked sternly.

Natasha shot him a glare that could burn a hole in the wall.

'I'm asking because I don't know him all that well and hey, I'm curious.'

'Clint is one of the strongest people I know. He may be human, but he is tougher and able to endure more than any other human I've ever met. I'm confident that he could withstand just about anything The Strikers throw at him.'

'Good to know.' Tony answered.

'I'd still like him back as soon as possible.'

The team nodded. Most of them didn't know Hawkeye all that well, but he was still part of the team and knowing he was in trouble was enough.


	2. Give Us Answers

Clint opened his eyes, his body covered in a thin layer of sweat and dirt. He wasn't sure for how long he had been out, but it was enough for his captors to unchain him and move him to a new location. The room he lay in was dark, almost impossible to see, but his eyes were finally uncovered.

He wriggled his wrists around, testing the chains that held them tightly against the wall. He let his palms run across the wall. It was cold and a little rough, like concrete. His eyes refused to adjust to the lack of light, making it very difficult to see even a meter in front of him.

He could feel the dull throbbing in his right hand from where each of his fingernails had been removed. The pain wasn't nearly as bad as it was a few hours ago, but it was a feeling he could do without at this point. He sighed heavily at his surroundings. They had removed all five fingernails before he finally passed out. By the time they lifted the last one he couldn't even remember what his captor had first asked him.

The sound of a door squeaking open made Clint flinch. He took a few breaths in before squinting enough to see a figure walking towards him quietly. What sounded like a lock clicking open was followed by another squeaky door. The footsteps got louder as the figure moved closer. Perhaps he would finally see what these bastards looked like.

The figure knelt down in front of him, looking him straight in the eye. He looked human, dark hair, light skin, but his eyes were different. They looked like glass. There was no colour or even a pupil. Just glassy marbles staring at him. The man pulled a small white cloth from his pocket and smiled widely at him before roughly covering Clint's nose and mouth with it.

_Not again!_ He thought. He had just woken up not 5 minutes ago and now he was being forced back into unconsciousness. The alien in front of him had strength, the pressure he was using almost _hurt_. He felt woozy, and he knew he was about to sleep…  
TA

TA

When Clint finally opened his eyes, the whole room was spinning. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, all he knew was this room was different. His eyes were uncovered and his mouth was sealed shut with tape. He flicked his eyes to every corner of the room, finding nothing up empty space and bare brick walls. The only thing that stood out in the room was a long, thin table sitting about 10 meters to his left. Something was sitting on top of it but he couldn't see clearly enough.

Clint sighed. He wasn't sure why this was happening to him and he wanted to know. Why did they take him? What did they want from him personally? He wriggled his wrists from under the metal clasps which held him firmly to the chair beneath him, hoping they would come loose but never really believing they would. The clasps on his ankles rubbed quite a bit on his exposed flesh. He wasn't wearing much; his torso was exposed along with his feet. He only wore a pair of black pants. The same ones he was wearing before he was abducted, only now they were now ripped and dirty.

A door swung open with a thud from behind him. It made him jump slightly. He couldn't move his head around further enough to see who was behind him but he could hear familiar footsteps. Warm breath breezed by his neck, causing a light shutter from Clint.

'You're going to talk today…' The man insisted. He ripped the tape from his victims mouth.

'What makes you think that?' Clint's voice was low, sightly sarcastic as he stretched the muscles in his face.

'Because hurting you won't get boring.' He chuckled. 'Believe me, I could do this forever.'

Clint swallowed. 'You don't scare me.'

'Oh, but I should.' The man moved around the chair, so that he was facing him. 'Tell me what Fury is working on. I want to know now.'

Clint's eyes narrowed. Fury was always up to something, but none of it was for this scums ears. 'What are you talking about?'

'A little birdy told me that Fury is working on something big. I know that the Tesseract is gone, but rumour has it, he's found a new power source and he's been working on harnessing it much like he did with the Tesseract. I also heard that he was very close to working out how to use it.'

'Well, why don't you go back to your little birdy, they seem to have all the answers.'

The man smiled widely. 'Ah, but that's where the information ends… You have the rest of it. Everybody knows you work with Fury the closes. He trusts you.'

'And you think I'm going to tell you? Even though he trusts me?' Clint knew exactly what he wanted to know, but he'd be damned if he was going to tell him anything. Only himself, Fury and a small handful of other people knew what was happening with that power source, and he wasn't going to be the one to spill the beans to the first alien who wanted to use it.

'I don't think you'll _want _to tell me, but eventually, I will break you.'

Clint glared at the glassy eyed alien. 'We'll see about that.'

TA

TA

Fury crossed his arms. It had been too long since he had seen Hawkeye. Time was ticking by and they were no closer to finding him than they were 4 hours ago.

Agent Maria Hill Knocked on the door where Fury and the team had reassembled.

'Agent Hill, do you have something?' Fury asked.

She walked in slowly. 'Yes…' She handed fury a folder and looked up at the team staring at her. 'We sent a team to Hawkeyes home to search for anything that might indicate if they were human or alien.'

'And?' Steve interrupted.

'And, they found something.' She looked up at fury, who was frowning.

'Skin fragments.'

'They definitely belong to Striker's.' Agent Hill added.

'It's confirmed…'

'Now what?' Bruce asked in a low voice.

Fury didn't know if the Strikers knew about the new power source, and until they knew, he would hold off on drastic measures. 'We call them out.' His eyes were hard, serious. 'I'm getting our man back today.

'How do we call them?' Natasha asked, her eyes just as determined as Fury's.

'The Strikers have some psychic abilities. If we can transmit a message to them strong enough, we can start a conversation with one or more of them, depending on how close they are.'

'How can we transmit a message that strong?'

Fury looked at Tony. 'We'll need a lot of energy.'

'I think I know where you're going with this.' Tony smiled. 'I just love trying out all my toys.'

'We'll go to Stark Tower, connect a transmitter to his power source and pray that it gets through to them.

'And if that doesn't work?' Thor asked.

'It'll work.' Fury answered firmly.


	3. Return Whats Mine

Clint's body shook under restraints. He was lying flat on his back, his wrists and ankles strapped to the surface below him. Both his hands had been attacked with the pliers, his body beaten to the point of exhaustion and still he didn't say a word to them. No amount of pain in the world would make him betray his friends. He let his muscles relax for the time being. The glass eyed aliens were gone for a moment and this would be his only time to regroup. Every inch of him hurt. From his head to his toes, no part of him wasn't throbbing and with every breath he took, his ribs felt like they were about to collapse on top of his lungs.

The aliens entered the room again, this time carrying electrical cables. Clint's stomach dropped. They had to be kidding…

'We will make you talk to us.' The dark haired alien answered.

The other alien held the cables while he stared at him, smiling eerily. His eyes were the same as the other, only his hair was light and his skin was slightly lighter also. He stuck two of the cables to Clint's stomach and chest while the other ends connected into a small remote control. It buzzed softly when the blonde alien turned it on.

Clint braced himself, realizing what was about to happen and waited for the pain. Suddenly his body convulsed. His muscles tightened and his back arched. No noise came out of his mouth while the shock pulsed through him but when it finally ended Clint fell flat on his back, gasping for breath. He let out a throaty groan before coughing hard into the air. Before he knew it another shock zapped through his veins. It felt like his blood was boiling inside him. Every nerve in his body was reacting violently to the abuse, making his body spasm and shake. When the shock ended, his body lay limp on the table beneath him. His breathing quickened and each breath he took got harder and harder.

'Tell us now!' The dark hair alien growled. 'Or there will be more.'

'Go to hell.' Clint answered weakly. He didn't want to show weakness, but at this point, I was inevitable. Another shock sent waves of pain gushing through his body. This time he was able to let out a moan of pain as it hit him. When the shock ended, he still felt the electricity pulse through him. He groaned for a moment before being thrown back into another shock wave. His eyes rolled back into his head and every joint in his body stiffened. He could hardly stand the pain. Surly his friends would find him soon, any longer and he might not make it through this. Suddenly the shock ended and he could relax. The waves of electricity left his body but not without post spasms. He braced himself for more, but none came. He opened his eyes and noticed the two men had theirs closed. He wasn't about to ask them why ether. Any moment he had to breathe was not to be risked. He watched them for a moment, through laboured breaths as they stood as still as stone with their eyes closed tight. It seemed like forever since they moved when finally they opened their eyes.

Clint waited for them to shock him again, but they didn't. Instead the dark haired alien smiled. 'It's your lucky day.' He finally spoke, though Clint didn't feel so lucky.

The light hair alien pulled a cloth from his pocket and dabbed it against a small, open bottle. He then proceeded to cover Clint's mouth and nose with it.

The room became hazy and he knew this familiar feeling. He was about to sleep.

TA

TA

The team had gathered at Stark Tower. Pepper had made them all tea while Tony and Fury connected the cables of the transmitter to the tower power box. 'We'll blast the power through it, I hope the transmitter can last long enough.' Tony muttered through his concentration.

'I'll last.' Fury answered.

'You're very sure of yourself.'

'It has too.'

'Well…' Tony stood up straight. 'It's ready when you are.'

Fury knelt down next to the little black transmitter. He fumbled with the controls as the team gathered around.

'What's gonna happen when you turn it on?' Steve asked curiously.

'It'll send out a really loud noise. We wont be able to hear it, but, if this works the way it should, they will.'

'And then?'

Then, hopefully they'll connect with it, talk to it we can talk through it.' He flicked the switch. 'Here we go.'

You could cut the air with a knife, the tension in the room was so thick. Natasha held onto Steve's arm tightly and he didn't mind. The machine began to buzz and a loud noise boomed through the speakers. Everyone covered their ears except Fury, who was waiting.

'Who's there?' a voice answered through static.

Fury bounded at the transmitter, pulling it close and fiddling with the controls. 'My name is Nick Fury, what should I call you?'

The voice was silent for a moment. '0012, striker…' His voice was followed with a small chuckle.

'Well, 0012, you have something of mine, and I'd like it back.' Fury answered bluntly.

'Are you referring to the human man? The one I have strapped to my table? Is that who you re referring too?' the alien's voice was cocky, almost as if he knew Fury would contact him.

'His name is Clint and yes, that is who I'm referring too.'

'But he is so much fun to play with… Why would I give him back?'

Natasha did her best to restrain herself, Steve held her arm tightly, letting her squeeze his back.

'Because you _really_ don't want me coming after you.' Fury answered calmly, though his voice was very intimidating.

'We've been playing games… He will tell us everything we want to know… Though, persuading him is more of a challenge than we once thought.'

'You won't get a thing out of him, doesn't matter what you do.'

'He will tell us about the power source… Mark my words.'

Fury's suspicious were confirmed. They knew about the power source and drastic measures would have to be taken. 'Let him go, and we can talk.'

'There is nothing to say.'

'There is much more to this than you know. But, unless I get my friend back, you never will.'

Silence filled the static in the transmitter. Fury remained quiet while he waited for a response.

'You'll tell us what we want to know?' The voice asked.

'No, but I'll tell you what you need to know.' Fury answered.

The voice chuckled. 'Interesting. You have yourself a deal Nick Fury. Meet us in the very centre of the desert, we will be waiting.'

'I want my man back, and I want him alive.'

'You can have him… We've grown tired of his constant silence.' The connection was lost and the team remained silent.

'Where is the centre of the desert?' Bruce asked with one brow raised.

'Oh I know the place.' Fury answered. 'I have to make a call.' He walked from the room.


End file.
